An inquiry on Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder has been told men could be just as responsible for causing the condition as women.

A Northern Territory select committee inquiry into action to prevent FASD held public hearings in Alice Springs after visiting Katherine and Tennant Creek.

Criminal lawyer Russell Goldflam presented the People's Alcohol Action Coalition's submission and told the inquiry stopping men and women drinking alcohol is the only real solution to prevent damage to the fetus if they are expecting to get pregnant.

Outside the hearing he told reporters new research from South Korea shows a fetus can be affected at the time of conception by compromised semen from men who drink excessively.